Bed-brace



(No Model.)

J. A. PRETWELL BED BRAGB. No. 515,706. Patented Feb. 27, 1894.

I FIG. 1.. C Ga 0 K i gwwewfoz Byzmm% M UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

JOHN A. FRETWELL, OF GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA.

BED-BRACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 515,706, dated February 27, 1894.

Applicationfiled October 23, 1893. Serial No. 488,926. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. FRETWELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Gainesville, in the county of Hall and State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bed-Braces; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in braces for beds, and it consists of certain improvements on the invention disclosed in my Patent No. 504,210, dated August 29, 1893, which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is had to the accompanying d rawings, wherein the same parts are indicated by the same letters and figures throughout both views. t

Figure 1 represents an inverted plan view of a bedstead fitted with my device. Fig. 2 represents a perspective view of the wire tautening device used in the same, also inverted.

A and A represent the two side pieces, and B and B represent the head and foot boards of the bed, respectively.

0, G, represent the bed posts to which the parts A,B, A and B are attached in the usual way. Eye-bolts or hooks d are attached to the bed-posts, and to the side pieces as shown in Fig. 1, and the wires c and e are set up at the bed posts, and reeve through the other hooks or eye-bolts as shown in Fig. 1, forming two loops.

F represents the wire tautening device formed of a single casting which is provided with a circular head F and a lever arm or handle F; the circular head has two flanged studs f and f projectingtherefrom and a plurality of teeth f projecting at right angles from the face of the head F and surrounding the said flanged studs. These teeth are provided with holding edges 1 and sloping edges 2, so that the handle F may be turned in one direction as for tightening the wires e and e,

when the said wires engage the studs f and f, as shown in Fig. 1; but so that the teeth will catch in the wires and prevent the device from swinging back again in the opposite direction when the force expended in tautening the wires is removed.

It will be readily seen that upon lifting the mattress, and by reaching down between the slats, the handle F may be turned and the wires 6 and 6 set up at any time to any required tension. Moreover, if the wires should become slack from any cause, one or more twists may be taken in them, thereby afiording a ready adjustment of the said wires.

By leading the wires almost straight from the bed-post for a short distance, and then bringing the loops in toward the center of the bed, the two ends of the bed are held firmly together, while at the same time, the more yielding sides A and A, on which the downward sag ot' the slats causes a tendency to bulge outward, are suitably braced.

Having thus described my invention,- what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

In a bed brace, the combination of the wire 6 secured to two posts of the bedstead, leading through eyes 01 along the side of the bedstead, and forming a loop near the center thereof; the wire c secured to the opposite posts of the bedstead, leading through similar eyes along the side of the bedstead, and also forming a loop near the center thereof;

and the tautening device F having the lugsf 8c and f adapted to engage in said loops, the downward projecting teeth f adapted to engage the wires, and the lever arm F for turning the said device and tautening the said wires, substantially as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN A. FRETWELL. Witnesses:

D. O. CAMP, H. P. CAMP. 

